Herbert Smith Freehills Partner Laura Orlando and new recruit Senior Associate Sara Balice walked away with two prestigious accolades at the Italian Legal Community IP Awards this week in Milan.
Laura was named Life Sciences Lawyer of the Year - just days after being named Biomedical Lawyer of the Year, at the TopLegal Awards at a ceremony in Milan on 8 May 2018.
Sara, who has just joined the firm's growing office from DLA Piper, won Up and Coming Lawyer of the Year at the ceremony for the Legal Community IP Awards on 14 May, 2018.
Sara has experience assisting clients on patents and trademarks, unfair competition, design, copyright and the protection trade secrets. She has specific experience in life sciences.
In January this year, the firm further strengthened its European offering with the opening of a new office in Milan. Laura - who previously led Simmons & Simmons' Italian Disputes, Intellectual Property practices, and life sciences sector group - opened the office and specialises in contentious and non-contentious IP, with a focus on patent and regulatory law in the life sciences sector.
In this field she has acted in some of the highest profile multi-jurisdictional patent cases, also within the context of the Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) Regulation, and has assisted major pharmaceutical companies in connection with patent issues concerning their biggest-selling drugs.
She also advises on regulatory matters, particularly at the interface with patent law.
Since opening, Laura has been joined by Herbert Smith Freehills Partner Sebastian Moore, who was brought up in Italy and is recognised by the legal directories as a leading patent litigator. He regularly acts for top clients in UK litigation, EPO oppositions and in co-ordinating actions on a pan-European basis.
The rapidly growing team also includes associates Martina Maffei and Spartak Kodra; Of Counsel, Pietro Pouché; and trainee Giulia Maienza.